“I wasn’t prepared for a fight like that” - Brandon Royval talks unexpected change in Alexandre Pantoja’s gameplan which led to his loss at UFC 296

Brandon Royval recently opened up about his most recent bout against Alexandre Pantoja and shared his thoughts on what he believes led to his defeat.

Royval challenged Pantoja for the flyweight championship this past December at UFC 296. It was a valiant effort, but 'The Cannibal' used his grappling to take secure takedowns and dictate the pace of the fight, and secured a unanimous decision win after the judges scored the bout 50-45, 50-45, and 49-46 in his favor.

During his appearance on today's episode of The MMA Hour, 'Raw Dawg' recounted coming up short in his title attempt and what went wrong for him. He mentioned that he was surprised that Pantoja had a more calculated approach than he normally does and noted that it caught him off guard. He said:

"He pulled off the gas compared to what he normally does. He normally doesn't fight as calculated. Just caution to the wind, kill or be killed type of fighter and I was a hundred percent ready for something like that. And he was very calculated in his approach, very cautious I would say. I wasn't prepared for a fight like that. I was prepared to go body-to-body and try to kill each other."

It will be interesting to see whether Royval can earn himself a rematch, as it appears as though he learned a lot from the loss, which can serve as a positive turning point in his career.

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Brandon Royval looks to play the spoiler in rematch against Brandon Moreno

Brandon Royval recently opened up about his upcoming bout against Brandon Moreno and noted that he intends to play the spoiler.

'Raw Dawg' stepped in on short notice after Amir Albazi was forced to withdraw from the event, which is a high-risk-high-reward situation as it is two months removed from his unanimous decision loss to Alexandre Pantoja. During his pre-fight media availability ahead of the UFC Mexico City event, Royval mentioned that he intends to prove the oddsmakers wrong and avenge his 2020 loss to 'The Assassin Baby'. He said:

"I feel like the odds are stacked up against me when you kind of put it all together...I guess the pressure kind of falls on him. Not only are the actual odds in his favor, but that is his storyline right here. This is his city, this is his everything...I don't think I'm in the odds favorite in any of this, but...I guess I get to mess up everybody's parlays and mess up everbody's days."